The deputy delegate of the Government in A Coruña, María Rivas, traveled this morning to Culleredo to supervise, together with the mayor of Culleredo, José Ramón Rioboo, and with the head of the Coastal Demarcation of Galicia in office, Carlos Gil, the progress of the project of environmental regeneration of the O Burgo estuary.
There, the subdelegate reported that the Ministry for Ecological Transition has extended the deadline for execution of the works until the month of April, according to the assessment of the technicians. This extension allows to conclude the work with better technical guarantees and, in addition, meets the request of the collective of marshals of the estuary who requested to delay until spring the planting of bivalves to ensure that this operation is more successful.
With regard to this group, the subdelegate highlighted the Ministry’s ongoing dialogue with the sector. And he confirmed that the shellfishermen will continue to receive compensation for the interruption of their activity until the end of the work, in accordance with the decree that regulated these payments. In addition, the Ministry also agreed, at the request of the sector, to reintroduce four varieties of bivalves into the estuary: the babous clam, the fine clam, the Japanese clam and the berberecho.
María Rivas reiterated that this work is an example of the commitment of the Government of Pedro Sánchez to Galicia and the Coruña: “We continue with the same firmness and with the same determination that pushed us to design, approve and tender this action, which began in December 2021 and is already in its final stages.”
The subdelegate recalled that the Ría de O Burgo is the largest project for the complete decontamination of a coastal strip that the Government has addressed in Spain in its history: “We are dealing with a reference work, which is also executed entirely from the funds of the Government of Spain”. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition allocates 37.5 million euros to this work, of which 3.6 million euros are allocated to the payment of compensation.
Construction status
The subdelegate explained that the dredging of the polluting materials has already finished, as well as the total coating of the enclosures. At the moment, work is being done on the urbanization of the southern enclosures of Culleredo and Oleiros and on the construction of the infrastructures that will allow the connection with the rides of the estuary.
It is also being carried out to replenish the funds with the contribution of material “that will allow a better regeneration of the shellfish banks,” he said. “And we do so because this project is an integral project and this means that it is a project that decontaminates the estuary and preserves its natural wealth and economic activity, transforming the coastal edge of the municipalities and creating new green spaces, making them more accessible to citizens.”